History

In the late thirties, the British Royal Air Force was in the process of re-equipping its bomber units with new, high performance monoplanes. The goal was to outperform existing fixed gear fighter biplanes, such as the Hawker Fury and Gloster Gladiator. Bristol contributed a design for a twin engine monoplane called “Britain First”. This airplane was privately financed by Lord Rothmore, and was intended primarily as a business executive plane. The RAF tested the type, and was impressed, so after considerable redesign, the type emerged as the Type 142 bomber. Tests were completed by 1936, and full production was ordered under the name Blenheim Mk. I.

This is a much larger photo etch sheet providing exterior details for the Blenheim kit. In reality, it really contains some exterior parts, such as access panels and some engine details, and also has many parts which fit inside the wheel wells, including most of the bulkheads, panels, some struts, etc. One problem here is that if you are going to use a lot of these parts, you’ll need to start using them at the first stages of the construction of the model. Unfortunately, I didn’t do this, so when the time came to use these parts, I couldn’t get them into the wheel wells, so I will save them for the next Blenheim I build, probably the Frog kit I’ve had next to my workbench for a long time. Probably most of this set is devoted to the wheel wells, but some very nice wing radar antennas are included, but strangely, not the one on the nose. Also, some engine detail is provided. One set of parts confused me, however.

This product consists of a paper mask for the clear glass areas of the Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk. I in 1/72 scale. It is made up on a small yellow sheet of masking paper, with the masks outlines cut into the paper. There are masks for all of the windows, the turret, and also for the hubs and wheels, depending upon how you want to paint them. They can be easily detached with a pair of pointed tweezers, and do not bunch up, so that the mask is perfect on all sides. The mask adheres to the plastic, and when painting and weathering are completed, all you need to do is remove the mask, again with a pair of pointed tweezers, and Presto! Your windows are perfectly masked.

These will save a lot of work, especially if you use the “cut masking tape” method as I have always done. You’ll save about an hour’s work, and the results will be superior. Highly recommended.

So, you want to build an F-14 Bombcat in 1/72^nd scale and you look at the kit and the weapons look plain. You look at the real items and they have markings all over them. What to do, what to do. The fine people at Furball have you covered in spades with the issue of set 72-006 which includes markings for 84 different things that go under the wings. Inside the set, you get a wonderful, large decals sheet in excellent register printed by Cartograf. The remaining three pages are detailed marking and painting instructions for both active and inert weapons. All paint colors are denoted in FS format. Alternate colors are also mentioned in notes for each weapon. All the instructions are also in color which is a great help.

There are decals for each of the weapons listed below.

Aerobonus is part of Aires and produces a line of items meant not to enhance the actual airplane model but to add to a diorama or vignette. This can include figures or simple diorama accessories. This set is a WWII USMC pilot in 1/32^nd scale describing his exploits in a nice action pose. The set is in four parts, the body, the head and two arms. All parts are cast well in Aires traditional gray resin with nice crisp details. Take care removing the parts and assembly will be a snap. I added the arms to the body and in hindsight, I should have left them off. I did keep the head separate and mounted all the parts to toothpicks for ease of painting.